1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an automatic care-taking system improved so that even a bed-ridden aged patient can look after himself in daily life such as turning over in bed, as well as bathing and treating his own bowel movement without the help of an attendant.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For a bed-ridden patient who is physically unable to move by himself, one of the problems which he suffers from is bedsore (a decubitus ulcer) since he can not change his position in bed with his back always lying on an invariable area.
Further, it usually takes no small help of an attendant to have the patient bathe or finish his bowel movement. With the attendant provided at all times, the patient psychologically feels as if he is a burden of his family particularly when the attendant is one of his family with the patient himself confined to bed for a long period of time. This is very costly first of all, and may eventually force all the family members to lead a gloomy and unpleasant life.
As an example of a care-taking art, the attendant has to hug the patient to carry him to a toilet bowl on which the patient is to be sat, otherwise the toilet bowl has to be carried to a bed in which the patient is confined at the time of bowel movement. At the time of bathing, the patient is carried to a bathing tub with the use of a stretcher or a lift. In the case of the lift in particular, the lift has a net to accommodate the patient, the patient may feel uneasy while he is carried.
This is one of the reasons why the patient becomes reluctant to bath, thus beginning to shed a foul odor from his body.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide an automatic care-taking system for a bed-ridden patient which enables the patient to turn over in bed, and take a bath as well as finish bowel movement by himself substantially without the help of attendant. This enables to reduce a burden of the attendant to a significant degree. The patient can take a bath at his will at any moment to always keep himself clean, protecting himself against bed-ridden related-diseases.
According to this invention, there is provided an automatic care-taking system for use with a bed-ridden patient comprising; a bed body having at least three bed plate pieces horizontally mounted on a bed frame, said bed plate pieces being formed from rollers and a belt extended between said rollers, so that a person lying on said bed body may be transferred outside said bed body, and returned to said bed body from the outside; said three bed plate pieces being first, second and third bed plate pieces in turn, the first and its neighboring second bed plate pieces being pivotally connected at their longitudinal sides, the second and its neighboring third bed plate pieces being pivotally connected at their longitudinal sides, so that the first and second bed plate pieces each rotate downward to form first V-shaped valley therebetween, and the second and third bed plate pieces each rotates downward to form second V-shaped valley therebetween; a drive means which drives to rotate said first and second bed plate pieces downward, and said second and third bed plate pieces downward alternately, so that said person on said bed body can change position to alternately locate at said first V-shaped valley in which said person being with his left side and back side on said first and second bed plate pieces in turn, and second V-shaped valley in which said person being with his right side and backside on said third and second bed plate pieces in turn; said drive means having a ring and a rod, the ring having a female thread at its inner surface while the rod having a female thread at its outer surface, the rod being inserted into the ring through their threads to displace the rod relative to the ring in the lengthwise direction with rotational movement of the rod, displacement of either the rod or the ring being adapted to rotate said first and second bed plate pieces downward, and said second and third bed plate pieces downward alternately; a bathing tub to which warm water is to be supplied when necessary, said bathing tub being located in tandem relationship with said bed body; said rest plate pieces mounted on an upper open end of said bathing tub to lay said person transferred from said bed body, and being divided into at least first, second and third plate section which in turn corresponds to an upper half of said person a hip portion and legs portion; said first and second plate section being pivotally connected, said second and third plate section being pivotally connected, so that said first, second and third plate section move downward through pivoted portions into said bathing tub to change to a chair-shaped configuration so as to soak said person in said warm water in a seated position.
These and other aspects of this invention are more fully described in the following specification and drawings.